Study: Hands-free faucets not so germ free

However, a team of researchers from Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore have discovered that electronic faucets were more likely to be contaminated with Legionella bacteria than manual faucets, the article stated.

"Newer is not necessarily better when it comes to infection control in hospitals," said Johns Hopkins infectious disease expert Dr. Lisa Maragakis.

The discovery was made by accident: Researchers were testing to see how often the faucets needed to be flushed to combat waterborne bacterial infections, the article noted.

According to the article, the Legionella bacteria was present in 50 percent of cultured water samples from the electronic-eye faucets tested, but in only 15 percent of manual faucets.